Israel

Beefed-up Israel police clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — Israeli police on Saturday clashed with Palestinian protesters outside Jerusalem's Old City during the holiest night of Ramadan in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city's worst religious unrest in several years...

Israel

Arab Israeli diplomat says security guards choked him

JERUSALEM — An Arab Israeli diplomat once deployed abroad to push back against Israel's critics says he was beaten by security guards at Jerusalem’s central bus station last week in what he...

Israel

EU urges US to join new Mideast peace effort

BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers on Monday urged the United States to join a new effort to breathe life into long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, but they...

Israel

Netanyahu turns to rich friend to fund corruption trial fees

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on trial for accepting gifts from wealthy friends. But that has not stopped him from seeking another gift from a wealthy friend to pay...

Israel

Settler leader: Netanyahu moving ahead with annexation plans

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has assured Jewish settlers that he is going ahead with plans to begin annexing parts of the occupied West Bank next month, a settler...

Israel

Hypocrisy gone viral? Officials set bad COVID-19 examples

PARIS — “Do as I say, but not as I do” was the message many British saw in the behavior of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's key aide, who traveled hundreds of miles with coronavirus symptoms...

Israel

Israeli leader vows to push ahead with annexing West Bank

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday pledged to annex parts of the occupied West Bank in the coming months, vowing to move ahead with the explosive plan despite a...

Israel

Gaza reports 1st virus-related death amid fears of outbreak

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The crowded Gaza Strip recorded its first death from the coronavirus on Saturday, officials said, amid fears an outbreak could paralyze the territory's already...

Israel

Friday prayers resume in Gaza despite new virus fears

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Gaza’s Hamas rulers allowed mosques to reopen for Friday prayers for the first time since March, despite a recent spike in new coronavirus cases within quarantine...

Israel

AP Interview: Opposition leader says PM embarrassing Israel

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israel’s new opposition leader said Thursday that Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming corruption trial is “embarrassing” the country and that he believes the only reason the...

Israel

20 years after withdrawal, Israel, Hezbollah brace for war

KFAR CHOUBA, Lebanon — Twenty years after Hezbollah guerrillas pushed Israel’s last troops from southern Lebanon, both sides are gearing up for a possible war that neither seems to...

Israel

‘GOD TV’ spat exposes tensions between Israel, evangelicals

JERUSALEM — An evangelical broadcaster who boasted of miraculously securing a TV license in Israel now risks being taken off the air over suspicions of trying to convert Jews to...

Israel

Israel finally swears in government after 3 elections

JERUSALEM — After three deadlocked and divisive elections, a year and a half of political paralysis and another three-day delay because of political infighting in his Likud party, Prime...

Israel

VIRUS DIARY: Navigating a flu-like illness in the corona age

TEL AVIV, Israel — For those of us from a region where outbursts of violence are an occupational hazard, coping with coronavirus seemed simple enough: Stay at home and you’ll be...

Israel

EU weighs stance amid concern over Israeli annexation plans

BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers will weigh later Friday what action the bloc could take should Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu push ahead with plans to annex the West...

Israel

Swearing-in of new Israeli government delayed by infighting

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his rival-turned-partner, Benny Gantz, on Thursday postponed the swearing-in of their controversial new government as the Israeli leader...

Israel

Despite virus, Pompeo in Israel to talk West Bank annexation

JERUSALEM — Amid a new outbreak of violence in the West Bank, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his new governing partner in Jerusalem on...

Israel

Amid pandemic, Pompeo to visit Israel for annexation talks

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Israel next week for a brief visit amid the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, a trip that’s expected to focus on Prime Minister...

Israel

Israeli Supreme Court: Netanyahu may form government

JERUSALEM — Israel's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may form a new government while under indictment for corruption charges, clearing the way for him and...

Israel

Intel buys Moovit app for $900M to boost bet on robotic cars

BERKELEY, Calif. — Intel is buying transportation-planning service Moovit for $900 million as the world's largest computer chip maker moves further down the road in its effort to build...

Israel

Israeli high court could determine Netanyahu’s future

JERUSALEM — With the fate of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the line, Israel’s Supreme Court began discussions Sunday on the question of whether the embattled leader can form a new...

Israel

Muslims in Jerusalem pray outdoors amid virus lockdown

JERUSALEM — Muslims in Jerusalem are praying outside in small groups during the holy month of Ramadan as measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic remain in place, including a halt...

Israel

Jordan halts Israeli farmers’ access to border enclave

AMMAN, Jordan — Jordan's Foreign Ministry said Thursday that Israeli farmers will no longer be allowed to work their fields in an enclave of southern Jordan, ending a more than 25-year...

Israel

Chalk marks, discipline aid mass protest in virus-era Israel

JERUSALEM — Social distancing doesn’t come naturally in Israel. But the country, known for its informal, in-your-face mentality, seems to be setting a new standard for public protests in the...

Israel

Israeli court takes step to halt phone tracking amid virus

JERUSALEM — Israel's Supreme Court on Sunday ordered the Shin Bet security agency to halt its use of phone-surveillance technology in the battle against the coronavirus, unless parliament...

Israel

Thousands demonstrate against Israeli coalition deal

TEL AVIV, Israel — Several thousand Israelis rallied Saturday to demonstrate against a unity government deal reached last week that leaves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in power as he...

Israel

Israel’s Netanyahu notches key wins in a deal with his rival

JERUSALEM — Israel’s embattled prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has notched two critical victories in this week’s power-sharing agreement with his chief rival: He can stay in office...

Israel

Eastern Christians mark Easter in shuttered Jerusalem church

JERUSALEM — A handful of Eastern Orthodox priests held mass for the Christian holiday of Easter on Sunday in an empty Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem due to restrictions in place to...

Israel

Israeli president asks parliament to choose prime minister

JERUSALEM — Israel’s president Thursday asked the Knesset to choose a new prime minister, giving parliament three weeks to agree upon a leader or plunge the country into an unprecedented...

Israel

A virus that hits all faiths tests religion’s tie to science

NEW YORK — Tanzania’s president claimed the coronavirus “cannot sit in the body of Christ.” Israel’s health minister dismissed a potential curfew by saying that “the Messiah will come and...

Israel

Netanyahu gains strength as coalition deadline nears

JERUSALEM — Israel’s president on Sunday rejected a request to extend coalition talks between the country’s two most powerful political parties — appearing to give a boost to Prime Minister...

Israel

World’s militaries face a new enemy in virus outbreak

TEL AVIV, Israel — The coronavirus pandemic has forced militaries and militias to adapt to an invisible enemy, even as traditional conflicts grind on.

Israel

Israel tightens quarantine in Jerusalem to halt virus spread

JERUSALEM — The Israeli government approved a tight quarantine of several areas of Jerusalem on Sunday, including the historic Old City, in a bid to slow the spread of the coronavirus in the...

Israel

VIRUS DIARY: Isolation and patience on a quiet Gaza farm

BEIT LAHIYEH, Gaza Strip — I haven't spent more than a single night at my family's farm on the northern edge of Gaza since an Israeli airstrike killed my father there more than a decade ago....

Israel

Passover in isolation dampens holiday mood in Israel

JERUSALEM — Each year, Patricia Sheetrit and her family gather with in-laws for the first night of Passover, bringing together some 20 people for the holiday’s main event, the festive meal...

Israel

Outbreak poses dilemma for Palestinians working in Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank — At the construction site in Tel Aviv, Jamal Salman and the other Palestinian workers wore gloves and masks, and their employer provided apartments for them to stay...

Israel

Israel’s health minister has virus, top officials to isolate

JERUSALEM — The new coronavirus is forcing more top Israeli officials into isolation after the country's health minister, who has had frequent contact with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,...

Israel

Hezbollah shifts attention from Syria fight to battle virus

BEIRUT — In the streets of Beirut's southern suburbs, Hezbollah paramedics and volunteers on trucks and on foot sprayed disinfectants on shops and buildings. At a hospital where it once...

Israel

UN begins home food drops for Gaza’s needy to stem virus

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — A U.N. aid agency Tuesday began delivering food to the homes of impoverished Palestinians instead of making them pick up such parcels at crowded distribution centers —...

Israel

Ill man seeks return to US amid West Bank virus restrictions

Ismail “Sam” Mousa is very worried.

Israel

Prisoners riot in Iran; Netanyahu goes into self-quarantine

TEHRAN, Iran — Prisoners in southern Iran broke cameras and caused other damage during a riot, state media reported Monday, the latest in a series of violent prison disturbances in the...

Israel

Fearing Gaza virus spread, Hamas preps for mass quarantines

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — When Nima Amraa returned to the Gaza Strip from neighboring Egypt earlier this month, she was surprised to learn she was being placed in a makeshift quarantine center...